It’s a score that signifies a shutout on judges’ scorecards, and it’s put the Vancouver Athletic Commission in the crosshairs of angry fans after this past Saturday’s UFC 131 event.

Three instances of that tally – delivered by two separate judges – have renewed feelings that the judging system is broken, and for the first time prompted the president of the world’s biggest fight promotion to challenge a commission’s authority.

Darren Elkins’ unanimous-decision victory over Michihiro Omigawa – which came by scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 in the event’s first contest – prompted UFC president Dana White to pay both fighters as if they won the bout.

“Overruled,” he said when asked about the decision.

White added that the judge who gave Elkins a 30-27 score should never be allowed to judge again.

The backlash from White and fans actually prompted a review of UFC 131 scorecards by the Vancouver Athletic Commission, and on Monday, a representative for the regulatory body issued a statement in defense of the fight’s scoring.

Jonathan Tweedale, a commissioner and communications officer for the VAC, focused on the fight’s second round in the statement and said that given its action, judges could “reasonably warrant awarding the round to Elkins.”

“An argument can be made in favor of either fighter,” the statement read. “Elkins landed more punches. At one point, when Omigawa came forward, he was stopped dead in his tracks by Elkins’ combination punches, and at another point, he was slightly buckled. Due to Omigawa’s unusual stance and balance, it was difficult to tell exactly whether he was rocked by some of these shots.

“However, you could see Omigawa’s leg bend and the control shift to Elkins as he landed the combo, stopping Omigawa in his tracks, taking the center of the cage, and going on the attack again.”

However, Tweedale said today that the fight could provide a case study on scoring that could inform future events.

“If you talk to a significant number of judges about the second round, I think you’ll find that educated, informed judges are going to disagree and can have a very interesting discussion about that second round,” he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “It can’t be that that second round is, by itself, grounds for concern or complaint.”

In fact, Tweedale believes the root of the controversy lies not with the second round but with the third round of Elkins vs. Omigawa.

“It was a fight where the first two rounds were very close, and then the third round was, for most viewers, a lot clearer for [Omigawa],” he said. “Where you have a fight like that, I think a lot of fans – and I’m talking about the fans here and perhaps not the more informed journalists – will look at that last round and judge who won the fight based on that last round, especially when that last round is a clearer round than the previous two.”

MMAjunkie.com scored the first round of the fight for Elkins, 10-9, while the second and third rounds went to Omigawa by scores of 10-9. The official call was met by a shower of boos at Rogers Arena.
Elkins disagrees with score but believes he won

The fighter had a feeling he’d get some calls from the media about his win.

Now recovering in his hometown of Hobart, Ind., Elkins has seven stitches from his bout with Omigawa and, as you might expect, is a bit sore.

While he disagrees with the 30-27 score in his favor – when he heard it, he thought he might have lost the fight – he believes he beat the Japanese standout, though he concedes the second round is where his things are less clear.

“I thought I won the first round,” he said. “The second round was close. I thought I won it because I landed more strikes, and I was the aggressor. The third round, I gave to him. He got the takedown. I didn’t land as many good shots that round.”

Elkins is a little surprised by the amount of controversy that the fight has generated, though he feels it may have been stoked by those watching it on TV as opposed to live.

“The only thing I could say is that it seemed like the (TV) commentary was really biased against me,” he said. “I would land some strikes, and they wouldn’t say anything. And Omigawa would land some strikes, and they would talk about how good it was. So it made it look like it was closer than it was.”

Still, he’s not entirely surprised by that. He notes he was a 3-to-1 underdog going into the fight and had little of the name recognition of Omigawa.

“Nobody really knows who I am,” he said. “I had two quick fights in the UFC, so there was a lot of hype going along with Omigawa, and not for me.”

With three fights under his UFC belt, Elkins hopes that will change. While controversy isn’t the best way to gain recognition, he said he can only get ready for the next fight and give it his best.

“In a couple weeks when I’m healed up, I’ll go back to the drawing board and wait for a call to see when my next fight is,” he said.

As the UFC 189 tour made its last stop in Dublin, featherweight champ Jose Aldo was met with a torrent of abuse from the Irish fans. It might have been unpleasant, but it might also have been just what he needed.